APRIL 9, 1914] 
of wave generation is employed, the spark frequency 
must not be less than about 20,000 a second. 
When the microphone is spoken to, the result is to 
vary the amplitude of the waves emitted without alter- 
ing their wave-length. It produces waves on waves. 
At the receiving end the arrangements are similar to 
those used in wireless telegraphy with a telephonic 
and crystal or valve receiver. In this case, however, 
the receiver hears the words spoken to the distant 
microphone and not merely dot and dash Morse 
signals, 
Using a very ingenious liquid microphone, Prof. 
Vanni, of Rome, has transmitted speech for tooo kilo- 
- metres. In the United States, Fessenden has simi- 
larly telephoned a few hundred miles, and Poulsen in 
Denmark, Colin and Jeance in France, Goldschmidt 
in Germany, and Ditcham in England have covered 
greater or less distances. Mr. Marconi also has re- 
cently devised appliances for wireless telephony with 
which he has conducted demonstrations for the Italian 
Navy lately. All are agreed that the quality of the 
transmitted speech is good. Since electric waves 
through the ether all travel with the same velocity, 
no matter what the wave-length, and attenuate at the 
same rate, there is ne distortion of the wave form. 
The only difficulty that hinders even greater achieve- 
ment is that of obtaining a microphone which will 
carry larger high-frequency currents. 
These then are a few of the achievements which 
have been lately made in covering greater distances 
in telephonic communication. 
We are yet a long way from telephony across the 
Atlantic, whether with cables or by wireless, but pro- 
gress will continue to be made, and it is possible that 
one day speech transmission from England to San 
Francisco with one repetition at New York may be 
an accomplished fact. 
In the thirty-eight years which have elapsed since 
Bell and Edison and Hughes gave us the means of 
commercial telephony much has been done, but there 
is still a wide field open for invention in improving a 
means of communication now so essential to our 
modern life. 
UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 
INTELLIGENCE. 
- SHEFFIELD.—Mr. Wilfred Jevons has been appointed 
to the post of junior lecturer and demonstrator in 
physics, and Mr. A. E. Barnes to the post of lecturer 
in materia medica, pharmacology, and therapeutics. 
Pror. BerGson will begin his Gifford Lectures in 
Edinburgh on Tuesday, April 21. The subject will be 
‘The Human Personality.” 
Ir is announced that Lord Elgin has consented to 
be nominated for the Chancellorship of Aberdeen 
University in succession to the late Lord Strathcona. 
WE learn from Science that Prof. Frederick Slocum, 
who for the past four years has been in charge of the 
solar observations and stellar parallax work at the 
Yerkes Observatory, has been elected professor of 
astronomy at Wesleyan University, Middletown, Con- 
necticut, and will assume his new duties next autumn. 
A new observatory will be erected immediately as a 
memorial to the late Prof. Van Vleck, for many 
years in charge of that department at Wesleyan. 
MuSEUMS are every day being used more generally 
in teaching, and a committee to deal with the subject 
was appointed at the Birmingham meeting of the 
British Association. The Children’s Museum arranged 
by the secretary of the Selborne Society at the Chil- 
dren’s Welfare Exhibition, which opens at Olympia ; Cape Province, to Karoo farming, 
NGmaa10,. VOL. 93] 
NATURE 
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on Saturday, is therefore of interest. The points to 
be emphasised are, preparation of exhibits especially 
for young people, introduction of a living side, the 
use of microscopes, the need especially of changing 
the specimens at frequent intervals, and the advis- 
ability of not having too many things displayed at 
one time. 
Tue work of the schoolmaster is described in a new 
light by Mr. E. Boyd Barrett in an article in the 
current issue of the British Review. Early in his 
essay, to which he gives the title, ‘‘ How to Complete 
One’s Education,” Mr. Barrett lays it down that 
teaching is worthy of the best minds, and is calculated 
to repay amply the best minds. He goes on to show 
that in all the practical effects of school education— 
character training, intellect training, and the acquisi- 
tion of knowledge—the schoolmaster benefits more 
from the teaching he receives from the boys than 
they do from his. He comes to the conclusion that 
it would be impossible to devise any educational 
system of such a nature that the pupil alone would be 
benefited. To complete his education, every man 
should devote a few years to teaching; university 
education, however well it prepares for cultured 
leisure, does not prepare a man to share his posses- 
sions with others—it is too egotistic. 
Tue Yorkshire Summer School of Geography will 
be held at Whitby on August 3-22. The school was 
instituted last year by the Universities of Leeds and 
Sheffield, in cooperation with Armstrong College, 
Newcastle-on-Tyne, and with the help of the Educa- 
tion Committees of the County Councils of the East, 
North, and West Ridings, and of certain county 
boroughs in Yorkshire. Its object is to provide in- 
struction in the methods of geography and to furnish 
opportunities for the discussion of problems connected 
with teaching it. The course will consist of lectures 
and laboratory and field work. There will be excur- 
sions in connection with the field work. All the 
apparatus used will be simple and inexpensive, and 
methods applicable to school work will be adopted. 
The special subject this year will be the British Isles, 
which will be treated as a whole in a general course 
and in two alternative courses at the choice of each 
candidate : (i) on the agriculture, rocks and soils, and 
(ii) on the oceanography, rivers and river develop- 
ment, and the evolution of transport and communica- 
tion. Prof. Kendall, professor of geology in the 
University of Leeds, will be the director of the school. 
THE annual report of the Department of Agriculture 
of the Union of South Africa for the period 1912-13 
has just been issued by the secretary, Mr. F. B. Smith, 
and is a very interesting document. Necessary as 
agricultural education and research have proved in 
other countries, there is probably no part of the world 
where they are more needed than in South Africa. 
Agricultural problems are very complex; probably 
more numerous and virulent diseases of live stock and 
crops exist there than anywhere else in the world; 
and, owing to the recent occupation of the greater part 
of the country and the methods of farming pursued, 
it is more difficult for young men to acquire a know- 
ledge of up-to-date practical agriculture. A number 
of institutions have been started, and the object of 
the department has been to place them on an equality 
as regards educational and experimental facilities, and 
at the same time to allow them to specialise in the 
branches of farming for which they are particularly 
adapted by virtue of their situation. For instance, 
Elsenburg, in the Cape Province, is particularly 
devoted to horticulture, viticulture, and Turkish 
tobacco; Grootfontein, near Middelburg, also in the 
ostriches, and 
